Former Pirates manager criticizes team's handling of top prospect

The Pittsburgh Pirates finally called top prospect Henry Davis up to the Major Leagues, but are not playing the 2021 No. 1 overall pick at his natural position of catcher. 

Instead, Davis has spent the first week of his big league career in right field and as a designated hitter, allowing the club to play veteran Austin Hedges at backstop despite some anemic offensive numbers.

It is a decision that has drawn a ton of criticism around Pittsburgh. And now, a former manager of the team is weighing in with his thoughts.

And he also hates it.

Jim Leyland, who managed the Pirates in the late 1980s through the end of the 1996 season, said on 93.7 on Thursday morning that a team can't have a hitter as poor as Hedges in the lineup, no matter how good his defense is. 

“You can’t hit .160, I mean you just can’t do that, especially if other guys around you aren’t hitting,” Leyland said on Cook & Joe Thursday. “I’m a guy that would sacrifice a little bit of catching ability for the bat.”

Hedges is hitting .165 with a .447 OPS after Thursday's loss. 

Part of the Pirates' reasoning for playing Hedges is they value his pitch framing and defensive ability, which score very well with advanced analytics. Despite that, he has still been one of the worst catchers in the league at throwing out base stealers and has also committed five errors to go with four catchers interference infractions.

Leyland believes the Pirates are overrating pitch framing. 

“I think they over rate this pitch framing stuff, I think that’s going to all go out when they bring in the automatic strike zone, which I think they will bring in eventually . . . I was never a big believer in that,” added Leyland.

The problem is not only are the Pirates playing a position player that hits like a pitcher, but doing so potentially limiting Davis' value. 

Davis' bat carries far more value at catcher, where strong hitters are rarer than they are at corner outfield or DH spots. The Pirates drafted him as a catcher, want him to be a catcher, but are not letting him catch.

All of this reached a boiling point on Thursday night after the Pirates lost their 10th game in a row, blowing a late lead to the Miami Marlins. Davis started the game in right field and hit his first Major League home run. But he was removed in the eighth inning for a defensive replacement – because he is being used out of position. 

Davis' spot in the lineup ended up coming around in the ninth inning representing the tying run. And he was not there to hit, because the Pirates do not trust him to play his natural position. It is all a very ominous start for the career of a No. 1 overall pick.